Category Archives: Music

Pentatonix has gotten this reputation for being these really talented robots – they always have a trick up their sleeve, some vocal moment that will shock you into mouth-agape stupor or blissful cheering. They ride the remix, the breakdown, the unexpected pause… so what a blessing it is to have this performance now and be able to say, “This is good for any song, even without any club remix tricks… This is good for any time period, not just 2011… This is good for any performance, not just an acapella performance… This is a great performance!”

From that make-love-now clarion call at the beginning of the song – “Wah, Wah, Wah, Wahhhh!” – this cover didn’t try to do anything that wouldn’t have been in Marvin Gaye’s playbook back in the ‘70s. But it did everything in that playbook perfectly. Once again the most astounding thing about this group is not the remix tendency or even Scott’s incredible lead vocals. It’s that you would never believe this group had just five members if it wasn’t right in front of your eyes. Plug in you headphones and listen to the audio – you hear a chamber choir!

2) Born To Be Wild – Pentatonix

The gun trick has been done before, yes. Pause. Chik-chik. “Guns!” But it gets me every time, and Pentatonix utilizes it, and every other trick it pulls here, with such gusto, and such attitude. Yeah, they feel like they’re from the future, which could create a certain sheen, a distance – like lamination – over their songs, but it never feels that way does it. They dig right to the heart of the song, and reinvent it from the inside out. This cover had the attitude of the time it came from inexplicably enough, and it managed that without ever feeling like dinner theatre. It was straight-up raw emotion, something which Pentatonix brings week after week to every genre like it’s, you know, no big deal.

3) Here We Go Again – Urban Method

To be clear, Urban Method took a huge risk with this. If you think, “Whatever, it’s just a trashy ‘80s song, the judges wouldn’t have cared as long as it was good…” recall that Pentatonix only negative critiques of the competition came on a trashy Ke$ha song where they just changed up the first verse by adding a melody where there wasn’t one. So, this was not a sure shot, especially considering Urban Method took an entire song here, threw it out and basically started from scratch. Heck they wrote a rap. They could have gotten crucified by the judges!

But, aha… What they came up with was a soulful and depressing blues track where an anthem of ridiculous ego and excess once stood. Urban Method found something, and it was right of Ben to point out that he liked what Urban Method found better than what Whitesnake created.

4) Every Little Thing – Vocal Point (Eliminated)

This was Vocal Point’s most ambitious arrangement since “The Way You Look Tonight.” For me, it started rough, but rarely has a group won me over more effectively as a song went on. This song built perfectly, and, by the time the remix kicked in, I was ready to give Vocal Point full kudos for this. That would have been if these white kids had simply stood still the whole time. But they moved! My, did they move! This was a wonderful, inventive and enthusiastic performance that should have (but didn’t) kept Vocal Point in the competition.

5) Stuck Like Glue – Pentatonix

One thing Pentatonix had not been yet was adorable. For such a small group, these five kids can put so much intensity on the stage. “Chill” is not how you would describe them. But if this group is usually a hit of some hard stuff at the club, this was a nice apple cider or eggnog – it was smooth, simple and delightful. And it was fun. There are two clear vocal mistakes during this performance that hold this one back for me (honestly it was the first time I’d heard this group be out-of-tune even a little) but I can’t take away what was a fun, innocent performance of a song I love from this incredible group.

6) It’s Your Thing – Urban Method

Two chords. One paragraph of lyrics. So what do you do?

Well, because there was so much room to do whatever, Urban Method got to show off a strength they haven’t shown since “Dance to the Music” – real-sounding instruments. Urban Method prides themselves on sounding like a producer’s sound panel, but what impresses me more is the relish these session musicians get from being… session musicians. Lay down an instrumental for these cats, and you get a fun, brisk performance which makes me wonder why they want so badly to be known for their bleeps and bloops.

7) Midnight Train to Georgia – Dartmouth Aires

For once the guys in the Aires just stood still and got out of Michael’s way. The result? My favorite Aires performance besides the brilliant Queen medley, which leveraged the theatrical tendency of this group so well. I didn’t hear the pitch issues the judge’s pointed out. I just heard Michael’s splendid vocal. I’ve done a complete 180 on him. I now crave his voice. It’s like sandpaper yes, but it is such a controlled and wonderful instrument – Michael uses its roughness for good and not evil. All the Aires had to do was go “Woo Woo!” and get out of the way… and for once, they did.

8) Need You Now – Afro Blue

This performance could have been better, especially considering this is a group that gave us genre redefining interpretations of pop songs earlier in this competition. Afro-Blue has entered a legendary funk (and not the funky kind), but this raw, emotional performance did enough to bring the Blue high enough in the judge’s graces even when it seemed they had already blown their chances. They now find themselves in the final four, where they really shouldn’t be. They essentially need to pretend this pleasant take on “Need You Now” was their last performance and build on that, or they’re doomed.

9) Dream On – Delilah (Eliminated)

There’s something to be said for a magic moment. Michael’s solo during “Somebody to Love” had everyone who watches the Sing-Off in rapture. That was a moment. We’re suckers for a moment.

Amy reaching that “moment” we all wait for in “Dream On” – the Steven Tyler octave – was indeed filled with a certain mystique that you just can’t explain with the equation “pretty girl + musical shrieking + fan,” because something about what Amy did here transcends all that was put into it. What came out doesn’t weigh the same. Something special was added in.

That being said… Delilah’s magic moment came about the same time as Michael’s incredible kneel-back on “Somebody to Love.” What the Aires did that week was keep the momentum going by releasing some of that pressure and then building it again so that, in fact, the best moment is that moment where Michael waits tossing that famous run and then coos it out just a bit slower then you’d expect. It airmails chills right to you doorstep every time, no question. Delilah missed that boat. They should have had a better, or at least an equal, second moment. Instead they basically tap-danced and riffed until the cane pulled them off the stage. Bad form.

10) Life Is a Highway – Vocal Point (Eliminated)

This is the first performance I don’t have much to say about. It’s just good, right? It is a bit fast, yes, and Pentatonix totally stole their car-starting thunder by doing a motorcycle to open the show, but this never gets in the way of a nice, clean interpretation of a corny but popular Rascal Flatts song we all know from that movie with the talking cars that wasn’t as good as all the other Pixar movies. A solid B+ based on the killer key change alone.

11) Knocks You Down – Urban Method

This was an ambitious performance for Urban Method, who I feel finally turned in a convincing contemporary performance that convinced me they can at least keep pace with Pentatonix. The Method had some neat tricks here (the flat-line and a nice ride to the top on one chorus, for instance) and the rap breaks actually impressed me quite a bit. Am I looking at a deserving runner-up here? Will I be forced to admit that rapapella is a thing? Because I won’t do it.

12) OMG – Pentatonix

The more I listen to this performance, the more it grows on me, but my first reaction still stands. This is by far the weakest performance by Pentatonix on this show. That is a very high “low,” I’ll grant you, but I was actually really turned off by this performance. The chords sounded too compressed at times, the tempo shifted too much for my liking, and Scott, who I was starting to expect was immortal, definitely went flat a few times. I know I’ll listen to this thirty times by tomorrow and I’ll love it, but let the record show that other groups did much better than the Texans during the contemporary R&B round, which is a round they should have owned!

13) Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) – Dartmouth Aires

Ah, the Aires back in old Airey form. Jumping, smiling and joking. At least it was somewhat called for this time. No it’s not the gallivanting that got me. It was the doubled solo. I know it’s in the original, but the lower part felt unnecessary here, and no one could keep up with Michael. So instead of letting Michael let loose, we got a breathy baritone part that brought the arrangement down in my opinion.

14) If I Die Young – Delilah (Eliminated)

I’m not a perfect pitch guy or anything, but I’m pretty good at hearing wrong pitches. When I hear wrong ones, I have a pretty visceral reaction. So, considering I hear pitch pretty darn well, I fail to see where this was an elimination-garnering performance. I found it in tune and pleasant, even a little moving. The judges pointed out major pitch problems on the harmonies, but I did not hear them. I think Delilah could have strived for a higher bar here, but I can’t fault them for the bar they chose – they sang it well.

15) We’re Not Gonna Take It – Dartmouth Aires

The Aires aren’t as good when they think it’s a joke. “Bohemian Rhapsody” was a lot of fun but it was never a joke. You could tell that was because a lot of these kids grew up worshipping Queen. Quiet Riot on the other hand… Honestly, Urban Method paid Whitesnake a much bigger compliment by throwing out their arrangement completely and doing something for themselves, and they did themselves a much bigger favor. This parody performance was middling at best, and the choir moment felt unnecessary rather then inspired.

16) Ignition – Dartmouth Aires

This performance just confused me, as did new soloist Xavier. Some good moments. Some moments that I was indifferent to. The whole kooky thing was back and it kind of turned me off. I think there was a better song out there for these guys.

17) You Really Got Me – Vocal Point (Eliminated)

The judges saw this as cute. Where they saw cute, I saw cloying. See, to sing this right, you kind of have to sing it bad, and Vocal Point got that. But they didn’t do that in a way that made me happy. It left me cold.

18) We Belong Together – Afro Blue

Too slow. That’s the big problem here. It felt sleepy, like Afro Blue was up to its old tricks, but they were afraid to do it up to speed. I think it was an intentionally subdued performance, but we instead got a whole of exposed lattice-work where we wanted a finished work.

19) Before He Cheats – Urban Method

Alright, so I get the whole female empowerment thing going on in Urban Method. They’ve found themselves, it’s nice, yay… And I’ve really started to enjoy them some of the time. But this was just shrieky 70% of the time. And uninspired the other 30%. Am I the only one who thought this? If so, I will shut up and move this into the top ten.

20) Ain’t To Proud To Beg – Vocal Point (Eliminated)

This was by no means a bad performance. It was also by no means a good performance. Ben’s second solo didn’t get him any further with the judges than his first, and a second visit to the bottom two for this group proved fatal unfortunately.

21) Best of My Love – Afro Blue

So it wasn’t just me right? This was a mess, yeah? I thought so.

22) American Girl – Afro Blue

Song choice is a huge part of staying alive in this competition. Let’s just agree that this was the worst possible choice for this group. The group never liked the song and so they layered a bunch of cheesecake, the National Anthem and their kitchen sink on it to compensate. And it’s still stuck in my head. It hurts.

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This recap is a bit late, and will be a bit abbreviated, because I’ve still got Halloween on the brain and I was busy focusing on the “Discovering Fear” series, which is wrapping up soon.

I considered skipping the week… but I couldn’t do that. Not to my “Sing-Off.” This was actually a great week for the show, and so I wanted to make sure that, for the record, I gave shout-outs to the groups that deserve them.

Rather then format this as a beginning to end thing like I usually do, Ill just briefly run down in the performances in order of whether they’re a “Must-See,” “For Fans Only,” or whether it would just be best if you “Don’t Bother.” This will best reflect my post-“Sing-Off” ritual, which consists to adding the best songs of the week to Sing-Off playlist and playing them over and over again until I either become a better musician or ears bleed.

Must-See

I have repeated over and over that I think Pentatonix is the best thing to happen to the “Sing-Off,” and that the Dartmouth Aires are probably my least favorite group ever on this show in spite of the fact that are very talented. Imagine my surprise, then, when – on a week where Pentatonix gave yet another mind-shattering performance – I tell you that the best performance of the week, the best performance of the competition so far, heck, maybe even the best “Sing-Off” performance period, came not from the pioneering Texans, but from the irritating Ivy League theatre kids that have stepped all over my last nerve.

This has been coming on for a while. Each week, I’ve grown a little fonder of the Aires, but I still had been given no reason to actually root for them. “Pinball Wizard” and “Club Can’t Handle Me” had been fine, but neither had gotten the group over my self-imposed hurdle – I couldn’t bring myself to admit these guys could really entertain because they were just trying so darn hard. They wanted so badly to put on a show, but they weren’t showmen. They were just loud. Michael yells. Clark kicks. Yay?

And then this happened:

This ability to get to the heart of song and dig inside and pull out its still-beating heart – this group has always had this ability, but they haven’t yet shown it on the stage. They’ve just smiled a whole lot. Note the progression of this performance. The boys channel all their manic energy into a nearly flawless take on the middle-section of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which suits them perfectly, but they save the fireworks for “Somebody To Love.” Is their version of a firework more smiles? Is it another high-kick?

No. It is an astounding version of the Queen classic that understands every “moment” that Freddie Mercury imbued that song with, delivered in such a way that draws every single shiver and gasp out of a live audience. Notice Shawn unable to restrain himself as Michael dips down and sings to the heavens. That’s a rock star move. Look at the way Sara grabs Shawn as Michael prepares to deliver the songs “money” run – “Somebody tooooooooo… loooooove.” The audience can’t restrain itself after that. And the last note was devine.

Consider me a Michael convert – I finally understand what the big deal about his raspy, overly-emotive voice is. As for the Aires, I’m going to wait one more week to see if this really is a group of theatre guys that I can believe in.

The other must-see performance comes courtesy of perennial front-runner Pentatonix. This performance didn’t give me chills like “Love Lockdown,” but it rewards multiple listens. Some of the effects Kevin is doing to make this sound like a club remix… frankly they don’t sound human. Like I question whether there’s going to have a scandal during finals week where it’s revealed that the sixth member of Pentatonix is a little sound-effect robot that Kevin keeps in his pocket.

This medley is a flawless compendium of Britney attitude. Compare it to the shoddy “Glee” episode and you see how brilliant this group as at bringing musical moments to life. Two shout-outs:

The belly-dance break was such a musically playful moment. For a second I wondered, “Where are they going with this?” before I realized they were still riffing on “Toxic.”

The dub-step breakdown. I’ve seen a lot of Youtube videos lately which basically have the same punchline: dub-step is really loud, and if you aren’t hearing that all-important beat, it just sounds like noise. Avi and Kevin make the dub-step beat work in an incredible feat of coordination. They deserve all the praise they get.

For Fans only

The first choice is really for anyone who enjoys music and fun. This was by far the best opening the show has ever done. It avoided the show’s consistent problem with these 80-person choirs. One or two soloists who don’t fit the part always ruin it for everybody. This medley of “This is Halloween,” Werewolves of London,” and “Ghostbusters” had three times the soloists… and everyone of them fit their part perfectly. The attitude here is perfect, and I love that the show loved the cricket sound so much that they jammed it in here.

Next, we have the Yellowjackets taking on Billy Joel. I don’t think this performance was perfect, but in no way do I think it earned them a ticket back to Rochester.

Urban Method deserved the axe, but the Yellowjackets got it instead. Thankfully, they took the whole affair with a light-heart and gave the best swan-song performance this show has ever seen. In recent episodes the swan-song has become something of a joke – a holdover from the time when the show needed to fill time because there were only eight groups. The Yellowjackets, by changing the lyrics and calling out the network, put a fun, inventive spin on saying goodbye that made me excited once again to see what groups might do as they walk out the door.

Committed came back for a slot all to themselves, and while I didn’t like this performance on first listen, I find myself really digging it when I listened to it with headphones in. Many of the groups old tricks are here, and they sound as revelatory as ever. My question: Chris Brown? Really?

Delilah killed it 2/3 of the time this week, which is good. They’re making a legitimate case for their reentry into the fold. I like them I do. Unfortunately they are one of many groups this week to suffer from a a weak female soloist on their second song. “Delilah” has some strong soloists in that girl-power army, but blonde girl with a doofy voice is not one of them. Also, “No One” would have been a better choice. That being said: this a group of very pretty girls, and they looked extremely fetching this week. On the other two Alicia Keys’ songs, their vocals more then matched the ferocity of their style choices.

Lastly in this category, we have Vocal Point. I hesitated about putting them here. I really didn’t care for their take on Elvis very much, but I do think it’s a worthwhile listen. For me, the first song is a wash. “Can’t Help Falling In Love” is a gorgeous melody and I think I can admit they do it justice here without me being totally in love with their interpretation. As with “Jump Jive n’ Wail” this group does up-tempo well, so their “Jailhouse Rock” ricks in all the right ways.

Don’t bother

It pains me to say this: Afro-Blue kind of sucked this week. Part of this is me not knowing Janet Jackson at all. I though I knew Janet Jackson; when they said Janet Jackson, I was like “Of course I know Janet Jackson, fool.” But then I realized I could not only not hum a Janet Jackson melody, I couldn’t even name a song. That being said, I liked the first number a lot. I didn’t need to know these songs – I just needed them to sound good. Then things got a bit too crazy. The scat solo seemed sudden and out-of-place. The swing section smelled of desperation. And Afro-Blue fell victim to the bug that seemed to being around this week: they had one female soloist who really stunk. White girl got praised by the judges, but I can confirm after repeated spins of this medley – she is off-key, her voice is nasally, and she has no swagger. I know she can do great harmony, I’ve heard her accompanist many a time and thought she was a valuable sixth (wo)man on this team. But every time she steps out for a solo I know I’m not going to like it, and she proves me right every time. Unfortunately, this jazzy medley probably isn’t worth your time unless you’re a completest.

Afro-Blue was spared from the bottom spot by a truly uninspired decision from Urban Method, who I guess made a noble and brave stand but just ended up looking foolish for it. Here’s the story: last week the group got mildly criticized for the female soloists not bringing enough heat on the chorus of “Airplanes.” Urban Method made it their mission to prove their girls could take center stage and blow the judges away with a Rihanna medley. How nice! Their problem: the girls really aren’t that good and Urban Method blew another opportunity to really bring the hip-hop (no Biggie, no Eminem, no Kanye?) so that they could show the judges their female singers are as average as the judge’s might have faintly suspected. Why confirm their suspicions? I don’t think Urban Method is that special, but the judges do. Why? Because of rapper Mike. So let Mike rap. Give the judge’s what they want. Instead, the group pushed Mike to the back and made this week’s performance a meta-commentary on team unity and girl power. And it was kind of hard to watch. My guess: they’ll be going home next.

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Time for another episode of The Sing-Off, and… another bracket. Who are these groups again? It’s getting kind of difficult to keep switching up my allegiances from week-to-week considering this show keeps switching brackets on me. Watching the opening performance, I can barely remember who is in what group in this second bracket, let alone which groups are in this bracket and how they did two weeks ago. Maybe I’m grumpy because I remember not liking this bracket very much outside of Pentatonix, who were great. Maybe I’m a little gregarious because the opening performance wasn’t very good at all (which may confirm my suspicions that this bracket is not very good.) I think “Rhythym of Love” by the Plain White Ts would make a great big-group song… the way it is. Why every singer decided to put their own unadvisable spin on the simple melody I will never know, but I semi-cringed pretty much every other bar. Sigh. No matter what the case may be, I’m glad I will hear at least a few songs I will love over the next two hours, and I am even gladder that this will be the last week that the groups will be broken up: next week the brackets meet and I get that feeling of constancy back.

Part 1

First up we have The Deltones, who sang a moving but not technically great version of Randy Newman’s “Feels Like Home” last week. “We’re not good enough,” one of the guys barks in the pre-performance package, and I fear he may be right. On top of that, we are told that the group has been stricken by PLAUGE!!! The soloist is recovering from a cold, though she pulled off a solo vocal that sounded only a little strained. This performance falls squarely in the middle of the pack for me. “The Edge of Glory” was perfectly acceptable, but I feel that a just-good-enough solo married with just-good-enough backing vocals that never seemed to blend very well held this group back again. What’s my diagnosis? I think The Deltones have the most consistent tempo problems in the competition. I never feel a strong presence from the drums and bass, and so they never really shake me. That plus I don’t feel like their arrangement was particularly innovative. It had all the trappings of a typical college a capella performance (lots of layering and repeating of words and subtle countermelody) without ever seeming fun. Increasingly this group seems harried and not distinctly fun. That’s not a good sign for them.

Our second group is Pentatonix, making their highly-anticipated return to the stage. Last week they were essentially anointed as the kings and queens of a capella, a title they earned but they may not be able to hold on to. In theory, I love the idea that they will be performing “Your Love Is My Drug” by Ke$ha, but will I love the performance itself? As Sara put it after the performance, Ke$ha… is scary, but this can be a relatively tender song, so where do you with that? Suffice it to say, this group absolutely gets to keep their crown. They made a big mistake in execution by deciding to give the first verse a melody rather than trying to do something with the sing-talk aspect that makes this song a Ke$ha song. It was a great artistic move but it didn’t translate. So it looked like they’d lost the crowd, and I think it takes a lot to win back your audience. What Pentatonix did after the first verse, and especially after the bridge, won the audience back big time. Some of the effects this group can do are simply astounding. I can’t even really describe them, they are so seamless and perfect for what they are doing. I can only direct you to the video and tell you this: enjoy.

The Collective has the onus of being the least highly regarded team left in this competition. There’s a great a capella group locked somewhere in there, but I’m not sure they’ll be able to unlock it before their almost inevitable elimination. Also, their soloist also has the PLAGUE!!! Larangytis is The Collective’s affliction of choice. Once again, the miracle of live performance cured the ill and we got a soulful vocal. This may have been the best overall performance so far tonight. Last week’s “Rolling in the Deep” was too fast and too unfocused. This week’s “Rocketeer” was noticeably more laid-back and focused and it only got better as the performance went on. The judges praised the group for their improved blend, and I thought that having three soloists was a smart move for a group called The Collective: it gave me a better idea of a team, and, if there’s one soloist don’t care for, there’s omsthing for me to fall back on. (The judges were drooling all over Ruby, but I find her voice shriek and lacking in pitch, so I was glad to see her turn at the front only last two lines this time around.) Not sure if this was the performance The Collective needed in order to salvage their hopes for the $200,000 prize and recording contract, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.

In the fourth slot, we have a group that I don’t see having a lot of direction. Where can North Shore go from here? This is always my problem with the “Over 50” groups on this show. They will always be heaped with praise for giving this genre its foundation and for sounding so classic, but what can they really do today? They’ll be perfect at what they do, and they’ll even tackle newer songs with their own special aplomb, and they’ll get the praise and the accolades until they are asked to kindly leave. This is all pretty much summed up by the big guy with the really prominent accent: “I ain’t never heard of Bruno Mahhhs!” he shouts at me. Yes, I figured as much. I don’t want to sound too critical, all that being said. Their version of Bruno Mars’ “Lazy Song” was effortlessly fun and extraordinarily good. I think, hearing this song, that there’s maybe too much going on in a Bruno Mars record, and there were times when I thought, “They could use one more guy.” The five guys they have: splendid. Flawless professionals, particularly the guys who got called out by the judges: their bass is great, and Guy is a great front-man. His best quality is that he’s not old-fashioned or stodgy – he’s naught and fresh without seeming creepy and he always has the crowd on his side. Oh, and he has a great voice. That helps too.

The Dartmouth Aires are a group I pretty inexplicably did not like last week. They sang Stevie. They’re performance was great, they’re energetic and fun… and I hated them. I kind of felt bad about, but then I remembered no one cares what I think yet, so I can think whatever I want for right now. Will I think better of “Animal” by Neon Trees? Aside from two weak notes from the new soloist Brendan, this was another pretty great performance that I liked more than last week… but still not a whole lot. You know the Warblers on Glee? How they’re always smiling and stiff and they sound really good but they don’t seem to have as much heart as the kids at McKinley? The Aires are like that, except instead of smiling and being sort of stiff, they are SMILING and jumping around like rabid monkeys with fleas. And it seems like they do it at all the wrong times. I just don’t buy it. I love theatrical, and their too theatrical for even me. They’re the little theater girl who ends “On My Own” with jazz hands and a giggle. You probably don’t agree if you’re watching, but I’ll feel how I’ll feel. I won’t be upset if the Aires stick around for a few more weeks, they sing really well, but I’ll be furious if they win it all. I am who I am!

Last up before the break, we have the pros in Sonos. They went too far last week, not connecting with the audience The Sing-Off actually has. It was pretty easy to determine that their performance of “Wicked Game” wasn’t going to gain them any traction. This performance was more confusing in that regard. Was this a beautiful, moving performance setting them on the path to cleaning these college kids clocks? Or was it another ambitious failure? I lean towards the former but I could see how you could see this performance of Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” as falling short on The Sing-Off. Anywhere else, this performance would have worked as… a statement about the beauty of the naked human voice. Sonos is way more exposed, way more emotional and way smarter than everyone else here. They aren’t trying to sound like anything but the most innovative group of vocalists in America. They don’t want to sound like a sound panel, they don’t want to sound like a band… they want you to hear what they’re doing with their voices. I was moved, I got chills, but I also heard pitch problems.

Part 2

I found the 60s montage a bit more grating the second time around. It was all a bit obvious, though I laughed heartily when one of the guys from the Aires, dressed in neon pink, said enthusiastically with this big doofy grin that he thought the 60s were fun and therefore perfect for the Aires, because he looked exactly like Andy Samberg making fun of dorky guys who are overly-enthusiastic about their music and wanting to have fun. I feel like a really mean person for pointing that out.

Pentatonix opened things up and officially solidified their place at the tippy top of this competition. Last week I suggested Delilah take on “Piece of My Heart” which Janis Joplin growled into prominence forty years ago. I never would have figured any group would turn the song into a reggae jam that perfectly suited a guy’s voice. Pentatonix pulled this idea off flawlessly, and it was all the cooler because they have a girl who looks sort of like Janis, and they kept her in the background and really changed it up. What a fun and perfect performance. I love this group.

I fear The Deltones made the same mistake Delilah made last week – in choosing a played out Motown song, they picked something they could not do a lot with. Not that “Can’t Hurry Love” by The Supremes is a bad song; it’s a classic, but what are you going to do with it? What’s special? Not much in this Deltones performance. It would have all been okay if the solo had been stronger, but I felt like this was the weakest solo performance this week.

Were the guys in North Shore alive in the ‘60s? Oh they were? I never would have guessed! Thank you show for repeatedly pointing this out to me. Would it be the greatest upset ever if North Shore took this competition? I think so, and it would make a great story. Look, I’m sayin’, they have the goods. Can they win over enough people to get those final votes? Their take on “Unchained Melody” was splendid and probably would have taken out Jerry Lawson and the Talk of the Town in a throw-down battle. More than that, it ensures that they had the best overall night tonight. More great bass. More great blend. A fantastic solo. It was good to see the guys back in their element. I’m sure they’ve sung this song 1,000 times since they got started in 1965. It was just as good the 1,001st.

The Collective told the judges to hold on, hold on, hold on, but the judges made the valuable point that we’re not going to wait forever for them to get it together. This group really came together at the end of this performance of “Hold On, I’m Comin’” by Sam and Dave. They waited too long to get there, languishing in the verses, holding back. Not wise. I would like to see this group continue to grow, I’m starting to feel their Nashville soul, but I won’t exactly mind if they go either.

Sonos is performing a version of “I Want You Back” that I’ve heard before on YouTube and loved. It is slow, in a minor key, and features almost none of the melody from the actual Jackson 5 version. This is the Sonos version through and through. In the context of this competition, it fell flat once again. The judges probably gave the most negative feedback they’ve ever given to a group before on this show. I was almost in shock. Ben and Shawn scolded Sonos. I wouldn’t have been surprised it they hit them with a ruler. They really refuse to indulge the serious, moody side of this group, and they would not stand for the changing of what Shawn calls “a CLASSIC!” I can’t argue really, I understand that Sonos is not working on this show, but judges… open up America’s ears a little! This was a great, musically complex performance, and it was, unlike “Wicked Game,” sexy. One thing it was not was bad. I could understand Sonos going home, because this stage will never be their home, but I’m upset a group this adventurous and this great might be going home with a mean-spirited tongue-lashing that I can’t say I really understand.

The Dartmouth Aires wrap up the show tonight. “Pinball Wizard” finally gave the song they could be unabashedly theatrical during without it seeming tonally absurd. Vocals still strong. Solo a bit too raspy. Good arrangement. And the attitude finally made sense. This was probably the first Aires performance I liked. Still would prefer they didn’t win the whole thing.

So who’s going home? No idea. I can tell you who’s not: Pentatonix, North Shore and The Dartmouth Aires are safe as heck. The other three teams are almost equally vulnerable. If the judges are going to stick with their guns, they’ll send home Sonos in spite of their clear talent. My guess is that The Deltones won’t make it, though The Collective is also basically asking for a ticket home.

The Deltones got a pass, leaving Sonos and The Collective on the chopping block. Of those two teams, I’m going to guess the judges will axe Sonos, which preemptively makes me angry. Will I have to be angry? You won’t like me when I’m angry.
I’m angry. At least the judges have proven they have conviction. I kind of feel like Sonos got put out of their misery tonight. I love The Sing-Off, but they are probably too adventurous for this competition. I guess that’s like saying the “indie band” will never be ready for the mainstream audience and they shouldn’t lower themselves to that, which is kind of an elitist approach, but its how I’m feeling after watch Sonos struggle so to fit in on this stage. Why fit in? So they can perform “I Want You Back” like everyone else would? No, I’d rather Sonos exist just as they are somewhere where adventurers can find them.

What of the teams that are left? Here’s how I’d rank them, though keep in mind most of them would rank far lower than the teams from the other bracket.

Pentatonix by a mile. Watch their performances again. Need I say more?

North Shore: They had the best night. I see a top four finish for these guys. I would actually be so excited to see them pull the upset and take it all. Their chances. Oh I’d put it at 2% right now. So don’t put money down.

The Dartmouth Aires: Don’t like ‘em. Can’t rank them lower then this though. They’ve got the talent even if they get on my nerves.

The Collective: I firmly believe this group has gotten the kick in the butt they needed. I feel a big comeback coming on from The Collective.

The Deltones: I think this group is pretty much juiced, on the other hand. Most of my enthusiasm for The Deltones last time was influenced by fortuitous song choice. Without that connection, I am missing any possible way The Deltones could possibly keep it up for much longer.

Well, that’s all for this week on The Sing-Off. Next Monday, we get all ten groups in the same room, a prospect that has me more excited than I thought I would be. At this early juncture (there are ten teams left, and this is as many group as this competition had ever had previously) who do you think is going to take it all. Pentatonix? Afro-Blue? Still a Delilah fan? Or are you the pour soul that’s hoping for a North Shore win?

I function just fine without it in my life, I guess, but bring it up in conversation, and oh boy… stand back. I can talk myself into endless circles about its flaws and its strengths and what it should be and what it isn’t and what it is and what it could have been or could be still, which means, beneath the surface of this fully-functioning human being who likes to believe he thinks mostly about important things like picking out my clothes and doing my job and writing well and finding love, there must always be a secret, annoying dialogue running full-speed in my brain that I don’t even know about that goes something like this:

And it goes on like that.

It’s like rooting for your home team – Glee is my home team and I hate some of the trades it’s been making and I think the ownership is kind of dumb, but man do I want it to succeed and I’d be really sad if it left town tomorrow. And I put way more stock in it then one should probably put into something so trivial as sports or, in this case, battling show choirs.

Three weeks ago, when Glee premiered, I wrote a few paragraphs on the Glee premiere that I intended to post here, but I didn’t follow through because I didn’t know what I was saying. I hadn’t formulated an opinion on a show which had, in Season 2, lost me. I was writing words, saying what I’d thought of Glee in the past, but I couldn’t seem to formulate an opinion on how I feel about Glee now. I talked a lot about ambivalence in that post, but by virtue of my agonizing over my ambivalence, I realized that “ambivalence” was hardly the right word to characterize what’s going on in my head when it comes to Glee. See the cartoon above for reference. Perhaps regretful obsession bordering on analytic illness might be more appropriate. I am not ambivalent. So what am I?

Here’s my thing with Glee. Only two other shows have captured my imagination quite as much as this show has. One was Lost and the other was Heroes. Both of those shows found themselves in almost exactly the same place Glee finds itself in right now as they entered their respective third seasons. The quality of their second seasons had been spotty after brilliant freshman showings, and the third season premiere of each had seen a major turn-down in viewers because of it. Their futures were unsure. Some characters just seemed like wastes of space. The characters we had originally loved were the most trite, annoying people on the show and so the showrunners were giving too much of the spot-light to characters who had started on the fringes but who were more “delicious” to write for because they were less conventionally normal. Because of this, the shows both lacked a strong center of gravity and it became apparent they were spinning their wheels looking for a direction.

Lost came out of this tailspin brilliantly, coming back from a mid-season hiatus with a string of episode’s so brilliant that they convinced dedicated fans to begin defending the show again, even if their intricacy lost some of the not-so-dedicated viewers. Lost, because it did something totally different but completely inspired, would be allowed to finish its run on its own terms as not the hit for everyone and anyone that it had once been, but also not even close to the failure it was becoming in early Season 3.

Heroes, on the other hand, was television’s most humongous crash-and-burn. The problems of its third season built unassailable mountains on top of the problems of its second season, and everyone just stopped caring, even those for whom ambivalence hurt a little (count me among those who felt a distinct pain saying goodbye to this show when I realized it would never be what I wanted it to be).

And for all the time I have seen Glee walking this path – that of the brilliant phenom with the cult audience that grows so big in the second season that it begins to look like it’s eating for two – I have thought “Heroes, Heroes, Dammit! Heroes.” I have contended for a while now that the way Gleeks feel now about Finn, Rachel, Will and Sue (mostly outright derision), who were the show’s original focus and its most fully realized characters early on, is a perfect mirror of how Heroes fans began to feel about that show’s original breakout avengers — Hiro, Claire, Peter and Mohinder — when that show grew too big for its britches. Early on those characters were relatable, capturing people’s imaginations and drawing them into this new universe with such warmth and apparent depth. By Season 2, no one could stand them. Not even a little bit. They were dumb. Just outright dumb. Heroes became a waiting game to see when one of the periphery characters like Sylar or Angela Petrelli or Mr. Bennett would do something interesting. Now compare this to Season 2 of Glee, where Will became an openly scoffed at meme, the perfect-image of a gloriously botched character, and where side-players like Kurt and Santana not only got all the best stories, but, by season’s end, literally had all the stories. Rachel and Finn were not the heart of the show anymore, but with a show like Glee, when you try and find a new “heart of the show” because the old ones aren’t working, you’re just as likely to misplace the show’s heart altogether.

It takes a lot to come out of this deadly cycle. A show that starts eating its own tail (especially one with fans as rabid as Glee fans, who want to see these characters keep doing what they’ve been doing in the past as much if not more than they want to see a good show) is very unlikely to stop doing so. Straightening out is hard to do, and so it would have taken quite a gesture to make me stop my panicking and simply begin enjoying this show for what it can bring to the table again. “Asian F” is exactly that – it’s the gesture I needed.

The first two episodes of this season have been promising, but it takes three examples to discern a trend. Glee is a show averse to trends. It is wildly erratic, continuity-averse, tone-deaf and likely to lose focus if you dangle a shiny object in front of it. But after this third episode I am willing to say we have a trend. Because “Asian F,” Glee’s third episode this season and its best since Season 1, builds brilliantly on many positive changes we saw in the first two episodes, does a few things we’ve never seen this show do before, and seems to be acting as both a mission statement for a new and better show while also harkening back to the best moments of the little show it seemed like this behemoth called Glee had forgotten.

Five reasons I’m willing to put my neck on the line and say I think that Glee will not in fact be a Heroes and will instead become a Lost:

This episode was actually a freaking musical!: I think most people would argue that every episode of Glee is a freaking musical. No! No… Glee has always, except in the rarest of instances, gone as far out of its way as possible to provide in-story motivations for its characters to suddenly break out in song. And that’s the thing — music on Glee is never sudden. It is never from the heart. The show goes through such pains, saying, before every performance, “We are going to sing this song.” “Why are we going to sing this song?” “Because we have this event coming up where this song might be required though it is ultimately unlikely we will perform it there or anywhere ever again.” “Have we practiced this song?” “We have, it was off-screen earlier, we are much better at it now. THERE IS A TOTALLY ORGANIC REASON TO BE SINGING THIS SONG! DON”T QUESTION IT!!!” That has always been the most painful aspect of the show for me as a musician. The characters can never simply sing their feelings as one would expect them to in a “musical” because that would be too surreal (musicals are inherently surreal), so a rationale has to be given for every performance, a logic which has in fact created the show’s most surreal element: that these kids, not to mention the instrumentalists who appear to be their slaves, could possibly learn all these completely expendable pop covers in minutes, write original songs the day before competitions, synchronize their dance moves, and still be functioning students and members of a succesful choir which wins competitions. So, in this show’s second episode ever, when Rachel wanted to sing about how sad she was, she couldn’t simply do it. She had to first ask permission to use the auditorium to rehearse for… something? And when Kurt wanted to sing about his father being ill, he had to do it as part of that week’s slate of performances Will enforces on the Glee kids as the world’s least mandatory homework ever. “Asian F” took a gun to this tradition and shot a fatal blow, hopefully a head shot, thank goodness. This episode of Glee was, in one word, surreal. It entered each character’s head not through the cheeky monologues we’ve become accustomed to but through bringing aspects of the character’s inner struggles onto the stage around them. They interacted with these struggles as physical presences, and they fought them through music. They dealt with them through singing and dancing not because the story demanded it through some contrivence but because the camera accepted the logic of each character’s inner world and created a place where it is logical that a young man would fight his father, who he only imagines is in the room, by dancing away from him and interpreting his frustration through free-form movement. (This was my favorite scene of the night.) Or where the world’s logic could handle and in fact make transcendent a character imagining all of her peers challenging her by replacing the words in a Dreamgirls song she knows by heart with words that addressed how she assumes they feel about her. There was no presumption that the character’s learned that routine. It happened because Mercedes needed it to. It happened in her musical head. It was weird, surreal, and it was utterly brilliant. It was the essence of musical theater. It’s nice to Glee realizes such a thing exists.

Each song told a story: Along a similar vein, every song last night told its own story with a beginning, middle and end. Right now you’re either thinking “well doesn’t every song?” OR “why on earth would every song need to do that when that’s what the episode’s for?” Okay, here’s why you introduce a song into a story if you are responsibly using music to create emotional responses within your story: 1) The song is expressing a realization or culmination of emotion a character in a non-musical world would have likely come to internally — in other words it is a bridge between a conflict and a character’s reaction to that conflict, a dramatization of interior thought and interior life. Example: Ariel has seen a real human, but as she enters her alcove of human gadgets she realizes she will never be a part of “that” world if her current circumstances persist. It could have happened in her head in ten seconds, but we see it in a show-stopping ballad. 2) The song represents the communication of information or of signals between characters who might not have otherwise communicated, or who would have communicated through static exposition. Ex: Timon and Puumba see that Simba is depressed so they convey to him their motto and it transforms Simba’s point of view as he grows up. In “Hakuna Matata,” the story never stops: it merely continues through melody, lyrics, dance and a wonderful time dissolve that lets us know what exactly has transpired in the decade it has taken Simba to grow up. So those are two reasons to introduce a musical number in a good musical. Here’s the reason Glee introduces them: 1) Because people will like this song. 2) Because if people don’t already like this song enough, we can sell it to them after this episode is over. 3) Because we need songs in the show — this is Glee! And so, in most instances on this show, a song is introduced in this fashion: “We are now going to pause the story to sing a song you might enjoy. Don’t worry, any conflicts or new idea this song might introduce have already been worked through in dialogue or will be worked out in dialogue shortly.” Anyone whose watched the show closely, tell me I’m wrong, I dare you. You can’t. Sigh. It’s sloppy story-telling to the third degree. So imagine how suddenly impressed I was to see that not only did the show not feel the need to ground every song in some sort of performance reality but that it also allowed every song to be an original and emotional expression of a character’s inner feelings that went through a cycle of emotions and ended in realization. Each song was a moment of turmoil and ultimate resolution for a character (sometimes multiple characters, and in one instance, the entire student body!). So rather than pausing the story and ruining momentum and narrative tension, the songs in “Asian F” were each sung at the most dramatic moments, and served two functions: they informed us about a character’s state of mind (we know more about how Rachel feels about the corner she has been painted into by Mercedes during her performance alongside Mercedes then we do at any time prior to this duet; we may know more about Rachel in that moment then we have since the pilot) and they provided a pressure release as realizations were made and the audience was let in on important inner thoughts. All of which is to say that, as each performance became more fully-realized than the one that came before, I was shouting “Yes! Yes!” at the television, and people thought I was strange.

I was never told what the theme was with a big, fat permanent marker: Who is your favorite author? Would that author still be your favorite if, at the outset of every chapter, that author announced, “Hi, this chapter will be about sex,” and then wrote SEX on the page in marker and then PUT A BIG CIRCLE AROUND IT? Probably not, right? Why Glee has persistently thought this was the best way to continue pushing its episodes in new and exciting directions will elude me forever. In the first few episodes of Glee, song choice and narrative momentum was dictated by something that happened in the story. In “Acafellas,” most of the songs were R&B songs from 90s boy bands, but Will never wrote on the board that this was all the show would be about. It was the case because Will joined a group that pretty much exclusively sang those songs. It was a fun narrative development that suited the characters, and I could interpret that retro vibe or those songs about sex however I wanted. Will never told me why those songs were chosen, and he never wrote his motivation or the motivation of others on the board with a Sharpie. At a certain point Glee got lazy and began telegraphing its intentions to viewers from ten miles off in big CAPITAL LETTERS. Telegraphing may be too subtle a term for what Glee was doing when it had Beiber episodes or episodes about being in a funk while writing BEIBER and FUNK on the board and discussing what those words mean — shouting at me may be more appropriate. Let’s put it this way: there is a board in the writers’ room where the Glee scribes list out their ideas for themes and narrative arcs; the dumbest thing the show could have done would have been to put that board in the middle of the choir room and have the character’s explain to us, using the stupid board, exactly what would be happening in every episode! That is exactly what most of Season 2 was about — it was a show about a bunch of people having conversations around a board filled with thematic ideas, disagreeing over which were good and which were really dumb (Rocky Horror, Rocky Horror, Rocky Horror!). So I was looking at the Glee wirter’s room. I don’t want to do that! The show conditioned me to hate permanent markers and Will Schuester. When Will wrote “BOOTY CAMP” on the board in the first scene of “I Am Unicorn,” I literally reacted this way: “Oh my God, this episode is going to be all about booties. They are going to sing a bunch of songs about butts and at the end there will be an uplifting message about the value of my bum. I should turn off the TV right now.” And then something magical happened: the episode had no theme. Or, more accurately, it had a theme I was allowed to interpret for myself. The songs in the episode were all Broadway numbers, but those songs all dealt with each character’s situations and came from their hearts. That was good, and, to top it all off, no one wrote “Broadway” on the board. I made that association all on my own. I came away from that episode with a feeling that I had not been lectured to by Will Schuester and that the show was mine again and not the writers’. “Asian F” built on this momentum, allowing me to finally follow a continuing plot thread that does not involve Kurt through more than one week. Nothing hurts continuing momentum like themed episodes that have nothing to do with last week’s themed episode. Glee has now strung together three episodes with no prescribed theme, and those three episodes followed continuing storylines that came up and were somewhat resolved when it made sense for the characters, and not at the end of the hour when it’s time to erase the board and write down a new idea.

The characters all had memory of their past actions: Speaking of continuing story threads and characters on Glee, lets take a minute to talk about continuity. Glee is pretty unabashedly bad at it… which doesn’t have to be such a bad thing. Shows and comic books can survive just fine without continuity if continuity is not made out to be a big deal: in those stories where continuity is a peripheral thing at most, things happen because they’re the most interesting things that could happen and in this sort-of anthology, we’re only going to put things in front of you that are deserving of your attention. The characters are simply vehicles for that perpetual motion. That’s totally cool, I respect that so much, and I think if characters are interesting, they should be able to do whatever their writers darn well please when they want them to. But not if you make continuity a huge part of what you’re doing. Not if your obsessed with it and, alternately, you suck at it. This is Glee. It makes its characters do whatever it wants/needs them to do throughout the course of an episode or story arc even if it makes no sense, and then, when that’s over, it resets them back to default setting (blank-slate gay kid, blank-slate black girl, blank-slate diva) because it does not want to stray too far from its origins, yet it also wants desperately for us to believe in character growth. It’s that last one that’s a killer. So, if you’re scoring at home: Glee goes all over the map doing crazy nonsense, places these things in our characters’ memories, and then does not let them grow from these experiences whatsoever, but hopes we’ll take away from all of this an empowering image of kids growing up and learning. Ha! Mr. Schuester has been like ten different guys on this show while, simultaneously, Kurt has remained relatively consistent. I know what Kurt has learned, but I have no idea what Schu has learned, let alone who this guy is. Artie’s been on-screen for like twenty minutes the entire series, and even he’s been interpreted about four different ways. Sue has made peace with the glee club so many times she should probably check herself into some institution. And we’re supposed to believe the same things are going on in these characters’ shared universe, and they’re all reacting to them and learning from them in similar ways? If this is a show about finding yourself in high school, why can’t I seem to figure out who any of these people’s selves are? It’s too much to handle. This is never more apparent then when you look at this series’ horrible track record with relationships, both teenage and adult. I’ve watched every episode and I doubt I could list every relationship let alone explain how they made sense. They don’t. They made sense that week and then they were ret-conned like spoiled milk. The show, over the past three weeks, has, in its own way, told me it is aware of this. It is aware of the big-ol’ continuity mess it made, and it had two options. Say screw it or work to fix it. I would have accepted either, but I would not have accepted more of the same pile-up — that’s what killed Heroes and I’m not doing that again. Well, the show seems to have chosen to work to fix its problems by finding some motivations and giving these characters some sense of inner life and consistant nature. It is in the act of replacing some of the gaps in its overarching super-knowledge so it can create a group of characters that don’t feel like they should be dead four times over. (Let’s not even talk about the fact that every character has left the glee club about seven times in two years.) In “I Am Unicorn,” we saw Quinn’s extremely inconsistent behavior explained in a very simple and understandable way — having a baby at 16 really messed her up. Is this what the writer’s were thinking in Season 2? Heck no. But it makes sense now, and I, like the show, am okay pretending that everything that happened in Season 2 was a result of everyone being upset about something that happened in Season 1 and… moving on! All I ask is that, as we move on, you give my characters direction, memory, and some sense that I am watching natural growth and not some wildly different being who looks the same from week to week but can turn on a dime from kind to coocoo-pants for no clear reason.

Sue Sylvester had almost no presence within the school halls: And then there is the irredeemable Sue, the very definition of coocoo-pants for no clear reason. What to do about Sue? Really there is nothing at this point. To keep her as a viable villain, the show should have sent her away for a lenghty stint a long time ago. The show has occasionally toyed with consequences for her actions, such as being stripped of her position at the school, but, in the end, the writers always seem to decide that this show is not Glee without Sue Sylvester doing insane things for no apperent reason. I don’t like nice Sue any more than mean Sue, by the way. I’ve grown angry at both. We just don’t need Sue. Sue was a good idea. She was The Riddler to the glee club’s Justice League, but could you imagine how ANNOYING comics would be if the Justice League only ever fought the Riddler? That would be gawd-awful! No, you send him away for a while — to prison or a presumed death or a reformed life as a civilian — and then, when he comes back, there is a freshness to his antics and a threat carried behind the returning presence he brings. This is all assuming Glee needed a villain in the first place. It probably didn’t, and the show’s always had too soft a heart to keep any other villain around for a long period of time. Villains help conflict, and with a concept as restricting as show choir, there are only so many conflicts (bad director, glee club is cancelled, person leaves glee club, glee club is not good) and we have seen them all so many times. But this show should have been able to wander from its initial conflict. It really hasn’t. No new conflicts could ever survive. Any time it seems like a new conflict might be working, the show realizes it loves Sue more than… sanity. And Sue becomes the big bad again. The way I listed this out, you might assume they cycle through this turmoil over weeks at a time. No, this is about every two episodes — a new conflict is introduced but, by one episode later, its really Sue thats the bad guy. Jane Lynch is a wonderful performer, truly. Anyone on the show could say the mean lines she says, but only she could imbue them with the menace and humor she does. But Sue has always been such a cartoon that even giving her some depth has seemed like a cheap trick. Will, though he is more hated, is redeemable because part of what makes him so despicable as a character now is that he was a character of great depth and compassion when we first met him, and now he is shallow, one-note and soft. Rachel, who can not make up her mind, at least has a complex interior life. The best thing the show could have done with Sue was have her run for office after her suspension and appear on the television only occasionally, promising good things for the arts, delivering a killer line every now and then. She would have pulled off the unlikely win and people would have been eager to see her in her new environment. People would have asked “What tricks is Sue Sylvester up to now that she is a politician?” And THEN, and only then, should she have threatened to cut out the arts. That would have been a legitamate and interesting threat. So the fifth reason I liked this episode is because it gave Sue a break. The show needed that break. It should be pointed out that I am willing to take all this kindness back because in the previews for next week, I see Sue yelling at people again, and my brain yells “Sue is Sylar! They could never let the villain go! This is Heroes all over again.” But, right now, I know how I feel about Glee. I have formed my opinion and I want to share it. I am on board. While I see no hope for Sue (she will never be a Ben Linus), I see hope for Glee, and after “Asian F” — which inspired me with its creativity, its artistry and its all-around competency — I am willing to hope aloud once again that, in this show which occupies so much of my television-knowledge brain-space, I have found a story that will recapture my imagine and live out the remainder of its days as an ambitious Lost — not that show exactly, but one like it, delivering for dedicated fans of musicals and teen soaps and raucous comedies alike. A Gleek can dream, right?

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Welcome back to Week 3 of The Sing-Off, America’s favorite singing competition if America was me!

In weeks one and two, we saw two different groups of eight teams, and in the end four groups of a capella singers were sent home to the sounds of their somewhat out-of-tune swan songs. My reactions to this expanded field of singers have varied from ecstatic giddiness to rueful ambivalence. Many of the groups did not “show their best stuff” in their debut performance, but, then again, who does? In the history of the show, I would say only two eventual heavyweight contenders gave their best performances the moment they stepped out on the stage, and those two ended up being the eventual champions Nota and Committed. Still, if seasons past are any indication, it is the middle weeks where we will see astounding and creative performances from middle-of-the-pack layabouts looking to impress the panel of judges and get their name in the discussion for who might be the eventual Sing-Off champion.

Right now, I would say that the club-bangers in Pentatonix and the pretty ladies in Delilah are in the lead, but I have my eye on groups like Sonos, The Deltones, The Yellowjackets, and Afro-Blue to make good on their potential and steal the buzz in this competition, making it more than a two horse race. This is break-out week on “The Sing-Off,” and so, in spite of my tentative skepticism, I couldn’t be more excited to see the six remaining teams in Bracket A (Kinfolk 9, Afro Blue, The Yellowjackets, Vocal Point, Delilah and Urban Mthod) put on their two all-vocal numbers – one, a semi-current Top-40 hit, the other a ‘60s standard.

Who’s ready for some puns about singing?!? Me, me, me!

Part 1 – The Pop Top 40

Tonight’s show starts with the always pleasant opening number. Tonight it is a pleasing if not spectacular rendition of Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know.” There are some truly awkward solo moments here, and mandatory cell phone waving on “The Sing-Off” always makes me feel a little icky, but there were two spectacular moments here from two of the most memorable faces from last week: the moments from the angel-voiced tenor from The Yellowjackets and, in what amounts to a huge pimp-spot, the half of the solo that was given to the charismatic lead-singer of “Kinfolk 9,” Moi, who showed off a much better vocal here than he did last week on a “OneRepublic” tune.

Our first group performance of the night comes courtesy of Vocal Point from BYU. The guys are down a member this week as they were two weeks ago – Aussie baritone Ben is back in Australia after losing his father, and their pre-performance package featured a genuinely moving moment where the guys all prayed for their friend. Unfortunately, it’s made clear be down a memeber takes a toll on their sound, and on stage, they sound like a group that is down a member. As they take on Justin Beiber’s “Never Say Never” (yes they got plenty of ribbing for it and do a fair job of making fun of themselves) they sound thin and a little out-of-breath. The solo is fine and the backgrounds chug along suitably most of the time, but the main harmonies don’t really ever click and the guys sound stiff and a little nervous – nowhere near as charismatic as they were when they tore up “Jump, Jive and Wail,” nowhere near as comfortable as a group like last season’s “On the Rocks” would have been in the same position. I find Sara’s hilarious branding of the group as like “wholesome Thundercats” oddly appropriate: they are cute and kind of powerful, but the animation’s pretty weak-sauce and it all feels a little dated.

Next up, we have Delilah, last week’s big stars. Their package video features the girl’s sniping at each other in a bitchy manor, being perfectionists, and worrying they won’t be able to take the pressure of being front-runners. That drama carried over to the performance of Adam Lambert’s “Whaddaya Want From Me,” which actually was suitably risky enough to make all the sniping seem merited. You see, they brought in one girl at a time, adding and layering the harmonies slowly over about a minute of building pressure and cascading emotion, which like trying a triple lutz. Was it perfect? No. Voices are so exposed in that context that you are bound to hear something that doesn’t sit exactly right, but the girl’s in Delilah made it work. The performance didn’t even lose that much power when it made the obligatory switch during the second verse to your typical beat-box jam. This performance was not nearly as incendiary as their debut on “Grenade” was, but it will keep this immensely talented girl-group – Sara calls them ”my girls” with completely unchecked affection — bucking the trend of early eliminations and making people appreciate the value of an ensemble comprised
only of female voices.

The third group, Urban Method, gets more unnecessary pimping from host Nick Lechay for something that makes absolutely no sense to me. The show cannot make enough of how we are seeing a capella’s first rapper, but this blatantly seems to ignore every other rap that has ever happened on this show. This is simply the first group to feature a member who considers himself a rapper first and a singer second, which, I mean, is kind of a mixed blessing, right? Of course, as if to answer my frustrations, Urban Method’s second performance, on “Just Can’t Get Enough” by the Black Eyed Peas, featured almost no rapping and the group was, if we can believe the video, severely handicapped by having a front-man who it didn’t make sense to have go out there and croon. So Mike the rapper took a back-up role and, as if through magic, this group sounded a heck of a lot better. The reasons: an infinitely stronger female solo and a beat that was a bit slower and simmered a little more. And then it all went to hell in the last twenty seconds with Mike jumping out front to look intense and shout and the group backing him up unconfidently with a skittering jump-start beat that just confuses me but that I think I was supposed to feel was really legit. But I didn’t. I can’t be impressed when Pentatonix does what this group aspires to so much better than them and with fewer people and less bally-hoo.

Hitting clean-up, we have Afro Blue, who spent their video worrying about doing a pop song since they come from a background that doesn’t really embrace that sort of stuff, which always means you’re about to see a completely transcendent, music-redefining performance on this show. My… Gawwwwwd… Snap! I smiled from the opening note here, through the scatting and the lazy groove, and the big band bombast and the incredible breakdown. To the last note, this was refreshing and completely revelatory and yet the arrangement – which did something that almost never works; it changed the melody — felt like it hadn’t done anything to insult pop music in the process. It just brought all that is good and reassuring about a song like “American Boy” and made it perfect for this group at this moment in front of this audience. Afro Blue is my horse in this race, and I feel confident in riding it to the end of the competition.

The Yellowjackets have the unfortunate task of following up Afro Blue’s master class. I listened to their version of “Waving Flag” a lot over the last two weeks, and it’s become a personal favorite of mine. I love that they have made it their goal to be the first “college group” to win this competition. This performance wasn’t all there though. It had distinct poles for me. The African breakdowns reminded me of the best of Nota, and they were earnest, but the parts of the song that more clearly aped (or parodied) the beat of the song itself (Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite”) fell pretty flat. The tempo just wasn’t steady. The bass was missing. And the opening solo was meant to sound Taio Cruzy, but coming from a guy we know had a more operatic voice, it sounded more like one of those bad imitations of Stephen Hawking, which left a bad taste in my mouth. This group should be fitting right into that goofy frat guys groove that suited the Bubs and On the Rocks, but, to be perfectly honest, this group works when it is being completely earnest and using the influences they picked up on their pilgrammage to Africa to spice up pop songs rather than being ironic about them. (Of course, no one does this earnestness better than Afro Blue, which is why I suspect that they will really be the first college group to win “The Sing-Off.”)

The last group to perform before the transition into the 1960s are the scrappy underdogs who “need” this, Kinfolk 9, performing “Price Tag,” a fun song which hopefully will give this group a chance to shine and not remind so much of how serious and desperate they are for this. Hear that Kinfolk 9? No angsty faces! They heard, coming right out by asking if the crowd was ready for some fun, as if to apologize for being so mawkish last week. And while this performance started off timid, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group grow into a song like this. Every note and groove was better than the one that came before, giving the impression that this group is literally growing stronger on this stage like a neglected flower that’s finally getting some sunlight and water. (In this metaphor, Nick Lechay is clearly the gardener…) This group seemed destined to be the easy elimination tonight when only one group is destined to hit the road, but might Kinfolk 9 have bought themselves a ticket to next week by simply… being more fun?

Part 2

I kind of loved the video that opened this half of the show: the groups were honest about how much they did or didn’t know about the ‘60s. The group that came off as the most ignorant and worried were the girls in Delilah, and they were up first singing “Heat Wave,” by Martha and the Vandellas. Delilah was definitely missing something here, and the rich irony of one of the Delilah girl’s asking in the video for reassurance that she wouldn’t have to wear a beehive because that wasn’t this decade where girls wore those hideous things only to then come out in a beehive didn’t make up for it. The arrangement wasn’t raw or powerful like past Delilah songs had been, and how could it have been? They chose “Heat Wave,” which Ben rightly points out is a song you can’t really “outsmart.” This performance was cute, but it was hardly as moving as this group has been in the past, and the judges weren’t exactly asking for a light but sort of empty performance from this group right now, so this song choice didn’t really make sense from a group that was building a trademark out of its innovation, seriousness, and emotional honesty. Does anyone else think they should have done “Piece of My Heart” by Big Brother and the Holding Company?

Urban Method on the other hand had something big to prove. This group is sold as a rapper and his studio backing, but could they show their “singer side,” as Ben put it. Urban Method finally found some traction in this competition singing Sly and the Family Stone’s “Dance to the Music.” Their performance was fun and earnest in its attempt to “be” the instrument, which is really what I feel like this group is about – not rap. I feel like this group is about digging into the urban sound, the instruments that make up the soul of the inner city, and this song got funk down to its heart. Still, I can’t help but think that other a capella groups could have pulled this off just as well. Truly, what is special about this group? And don’t say rap. The irony is not lost on me that the rapping group has now rapped less than many other groups in this competition have in the past.

I’m sort of sorry I called “Vocal Point” dated earlier, because, as it turns out, this group can use their connection to a feeling of another time (something I called datedness) and make something that most people would consider inherently dated – that Sinatra swoon that just about no one associates with the 60s today, which is patently absurd – and making it seem like, in two minutes on stage, the sixties were back and they were swingin’ like they had not swung since 1967. The solo vocal was to die for. This performance should be paired with “Pan Am” and washed down with a scotch. In essence, this performance didn’t have to be conventionally cool, because it was perfect (literally I can point out no flaws). But it was also just about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, so there’s that.

Afro Blue now has the unenviable task of following up a perfect performance. They of course follow it with what I consider to be another perfect performance. The judges were a bit more critical than I. Ben told the musical geniuses they overthought it a little with the jazz stuff and Sara wished they’d brought it back to the 60s after they took it elsewhere. I am of a different opinion. I don’t think the criteria of the competition asks that the groups evoke the 1960s 100% of the time; they merely have to take songs from the ‘60s and reinvent them for their a capella sound. Afro Blue was effortlessly cool on Marvin Gaye’s “Heard It Through the Grapevine” as they
made a classic work for their complicated jazz harmonies and modulations, which I never once felt got too complicated for a relative novice like myself. I got it. I loved it.

I also loved The Yellowjackets completely unironic take on “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” by Franki Valli. This song can sound so hokey in karaoke… All you need to make it work – a girl to sing it to (a la Heath Ledger in “10 Things I Hate About You”). Aaron, the helium-voiced tenor was adorable in his advances toward Sara, which ended with a gentleman’s kiss on the hand.

And to end the night, Kinfolk 9 sent everything all to hell in a hand basket. Their take on “Let It Be” should have returned them to the mawkish, Moi-led stagnancy of week 1, and then, in an instance of what I love about this show coming to the fore, Moi took the lead on an astoundingly beautiful version of a Beatles’ classic that just exploded every expectation you would have had about the elimination that was right around the corner. I’m a sucker for two things – jazz chords and beautiful background humming (hence my two favorite performances ever being Committed’s “This Love” and The Backbeat’s “Landslide”) This performance fits firmly in the latter category. It was so clearly manipulated to dance on every heartstring I have that it was virtually transparent, but I only realized this after it was over. While Moi was singing (or screaming… what a scream!) they played me like a fiddle.

So who’s going home? Hell if I know. Could it really be Kinfolk 9 after that performance?!? My guess is… probably, but that’s not what I want. Though I have no idea who I would send home in their place. Maybe the Yellowjackets?

In the end it came down to Delilah (What?!?) and Kinfolk 9 (Awww…). For a second I legitimately believed the favorites would go home considering their ‘60s performance had been the weakest, but (and I don’t want to say of course here because this show is truly never predicatble) of course, Kinfolk 9 went home. But they got in the cheekiest swan song ever – Beck’s “Loser” – and gosh darn, I love them even more for it. They may be leaving the competition, but they won me over completely this week – their first performance simply set them back too far to allow for the come from behind victory.

This week pretty much rocked my world as a whole. Not a weak link in the bunch, this night was solid all around. Hopefully next week can keep the momentum going. So do you have any favorites? What gets you out of your seat – jazzy reinventions, mournful ballads, cheesy-but-sincere love songs, tongue-in-cheek irony? Are you even watching? (Ahem , you should be…) See you next week. In the meantime, you can keep up with my reports from the battlefront – I am doing war with the horror genre for the first time in my relatively short life, in honor of this month being October. As a matter of fact, I think it’s time to start up “Let the Right One In” right now. Yikes!

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In honor of this week’s episode of The Sing-Off, here are my top twenty performances from the first two seasons. The major take-away here: Season 2 blew Season 1 out of the water, which is good news for Season 3 if that trend continues. I provided videos for your listening and watching pleasure.

20) I’m Yours – Nota (Season 1)

This performance, one of the first viewers ever saw, starts out rough, but the minute the guys in Nota kicked in that Latin flair, the magic of The Sing-Off became apperent. With talent and imagination, these singers could do anything to these songs, and no one added in their own flair quite like Nota.

19) Sweet Caroline – Beelzebubs (Season 1)

This is not remembered as one of the Beelzebubs better performances, but give credit where credit is due. The guys had livelier tracks, sure, but they were never this pitch perfect or goffily sincere. A flawless performance of a silly song.

18) Live Your Life – On the Rocks (Season 2)

No one ever had as much fun on the stage as these guys, and that’s saying something considering this stage has seen the likes of legendary goofballs like the ‘Bubs. On the Rocks was consistent but never had a “steal the spotlight” moment. However, I would be remiss if I did not include their most light-hearted, rockingest performance.

17) Down on the Corner – Street Corner Symphony (Season 2)

Street Corner Symphony was well-established as a front-runner by this point, but unlike Commited, they didn’t rest on their laurels. Note their signature here: they insert their name into the lyrics.

16) Come Sail Away – Beelzebubs (Season 1)

Not the ‘Bubs greatest performance, but it was their most ambitious. You try cutting Come Sail Away down to a minute and a half!

15) Grace Kelly – The Yale Whiffenpoofs (Season 2)

These guys did not live up to their pedigree, but it was fun while it lasted. Off-stage they seemed cocky and off-putting, stiff, but during this cover, they were legit as can be.

14) Hey Soul Sister – Street Corner Symphony (Season 2)

This cover announced Street Corner Symphony’s arrival and told Committed that they would not simply be walking away with the title. A nice groove, a killer breakdown, a fresh take on an overplayed song.

13) Journey Medley – The SoCals (Season 1)

They were so theatrical, so cheesy, so Glee… and I kind of like them. This was their best performance.

12) Love Shack – The Backbeats (Season 2)

The judges worried the ballad lovers in The Backbeats would never be able to loosen up and have some fun on stage. Proved them wrong, didn’t they?

11) Down – Nota (Season 1)

This performance is considered Nota’s signature moment. I like it less then others, but you have to give in when that dance-break gives in.

10) The House of the Rising Sun – Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town (Season 2)

Jerry Lawson was pretty much just resting on his legacy until this performance basically exploded my brain. These were some classy dudes, and it translated into one truly memorable moment for them.

9) Creep – Street Corner Symphony (Season 2)

I just love this song. If they sang it in tune, it would have ranked this high. They did so much more than merely sing it in tune.

8) Magical Mystery Tour – Beelzebubs (Season 1)

This is the song which introduced us to The Sing-Off. A giant bus on stage. The guys acting out an acid trip. Random flailing and funny-faces. And Sing-Off fans said, “Yep, I’m in.”

7) Jackson 5 Medley – Nota (Season 1)

This was Nota’s best performance. Eeverything I didn’t like about them worked here. Their take on “I’ll Be There” is beautiful.

6) Cooler Than Me – Groove for Thought (Season 2)

For one shining moment, Groove for Thought was the coolest thing to ever sashay across the Sing-Off stage. They pretty much disintegrated the following week, but I have to give credit where credit is due: this cover was the bomb.

5) The Who Medley – Beelzebubs (Season 1)

The best performance from Season 1, riding the back of a really emotional “Behind Blue Eyes.” And the ‘Bubs showed they could really rock out.

4) Apologize – Committed (Season 2)

This performance had Shawn throwing his arms up in the air. Nothing to comment on. It’s true. This take on OneRepublic won them the competition in Week 2. They never had to put on a performance this great again – and unfortunately they didn’t.

3) Fix You – Street Corner Symphony (Season 2)

My favorite Sing-Off moment. The other contestants coming out was a surpise. A surprisingly moving surprise. I know I had a little dust in my eye during this performance.

2) This Love – Committed (Season 2)

The best arrangement on this show, ever. Period. (The performance starts at 1:40)

1) Landslide – The Backbeats (Season 2)

And yet… I had to give the edge to the Backbeats for “Landslide.” The Backbeats were late bloomers, but they hit a grand slam when it came time to vote for the winner. They got my vote on this performance alone. It is the most starkly beautiful thing I have heard come from an a capella group. not just on this show. Ever. It’s that cello, man. That is some good cello.

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The Sing-Off is back, and I must say, I’m glad to have it here, cheering up my Monday nights with sincerity and harmonies again.

I was surprised to recall today, with a little prodding, that, in truth, this show has only ever aired for three weeks. It ran for four days in one week during its first season, and went in for a two week run in season two. I’d somehow erased this incredible memory from my memory. I remembered incorrectly that it had been spread out to one episode a week, but, as it turns out, only three weeks in my life have in fact been Sing Off’d before. In spite of this, I feel sort of intimately familiar with the show’s rhythms and its quirks, like I’ve lived with them for a lot longer. It’s comforting to see that stage again and have a giant choir harmonizing at me about how I’m perfect… which really makes me feel better about myself. Heck, I’m even starting to like Nick Lachey now! That being said, let’s dive right in.

Delilah

Part 1

The Yellowjackets – “Waving Flag” by K’Naan

A strong opening to the show. “Waving Flag” is exactly the kind of song that is kinf of out of left field, but wonderful for this competition. They didn’t perform a whole lot of vocal
trickery, at least not as much as they could have, which is what I think Sara was getting at in her comments, but, to be fair, the song really doesn’t seem to call for that. It’s a kind of barrel ahead thing, and the wonderful thing about what the Yellowjackets did was appreciate some moments along the way, make them truly soar, and put on atruly professional sounding performance..

The Fannin Family – “Who Says” by Selena Gomez

They’ve been semi-popular on YouTube for a while and they deserve it. They’re creative, good and different. What was missing tonight was some of the vocal family quirks I’ve seen them display on medleys of songs before. They have an arranging flair that makes what they have (a rather unique family group vibe) sound transcendent, and that was missing
from all but the opening salvo this time out. As usual with the Fannins, it’s the boys who can’t really support the girls here. What they have is two tenors and a baritone, and the pitch issues on Youtube videos have always come from the male voices. You can hear them breathing, missing notes, fumbling around. More male support would be nice, but as Ben said, the Fannin’s can’t really be faulted for not being born with a bass among them.

(Below is my personal favorite Fannin arrangement, solely because of the chorus)

Afroblue – “Put Your Records On” by Corrine Bailey Rae

The first group to truly own the stage and put something you haven’t heard before out there. The Yellowjackets look like their trying on a flavor for the first time when they sing K’Naan, but Afroblue appears effortlessly to be an incredible flavor all its own – “warm butter on grits” as Shawn put it. There are so many things I loved here. The stools. The solo. The slooow tempo. But the best part: oooohhh, that bass. Reggie! That was some incredible bass work.

Delilah – “Grenade” by Bruno Mars

I won’t lie. I thought Delilah would be the sacrificial lamb here. All-girl groups have a spotty track record on the show. Largely those groups have been three things: shrill, unpolished, and early exiters. Lo and behold that will not be the case this time. Delilah was amazing on “Grenade.” From the soloist channeling a little bit of Joplin, to a slow throbbing arrangement that took it’s time to really feel, they just did everything right.
I recognize none of these girls from past seasons, but they took the notes they received from the judges to heart, clearly, and they came back with a perfect formula for success. (By the way, I love Sara. Gosh, she is such a nerd. A delightful nerd. This being prompted by her girl power speech to the Delilah girls.) So, yeah this spells the end for the Fannins. Kind of sad to see them go, because I’ve been following them for years on YouTube, but their swan song, with the boys trampling all over every note, proved that this stage is not as comfortable for them as their living room.

Vocal Point

Part 2

Urban Method – “Love the Way You Lie” by Eminem ft. Rihanna

I should like Urban Method more than I do. What they got right: The rapping and the poignancy. They didn’t try to sell “Love the Way You Lie” as anything but what it is: a tragedy. Cool… But… I agree with Shawn that this barely sounded like acapella and it sounded more like a track. It just wasn’t a track I particularly like too much. Without the bass shaking me in the studio like it shook Ben, the song felt… empty. The lead vocal (the Rihanna part) didn’t carry as well as the rapping because, while this group has the “novelty” part of backing up a rapper down pretty well, I don’t feel like they’re technically accounting for backing up a singer. That part was weak, and since, all the bells and whistles of arranging went into make this sound as unadorned and “studio-like” as possible, I was left feeling cold. Me, I like adorned. I like a more acoustic, different take on a song like this. And Urban Method didn’t sound like that. They sounded like a sound panel in a producer’s studio… which is kind of what they are.

There’s an immediate unfortunate association that comes with these guys’ video, where they sing golden oldies to golden oldies in what is – no offense – a lounge act. A cruise ship act. Had we not seen that, I probably would have thought these guys were cool throwbacks who can perform “Some Kind of Wonderful” exuberantly and smile and dance. But now I know that’s all they do. And it makes me think – cheesy. And sparkly. And old. How different are these guys, really, from last year’s five person dude group, Street Corner Symphony? I don’t know. Maybe not that different at all. But Street Corner seemed legit, like they actually walked over from a bar and started putting something ear-opening and new together on the world’s coolest street corner. The Cat’s Pajamas sound… like a bunch of guys sitting around a baby grand that would use the phrase “cat’s pajamas” to describe things they found spiffy. They have the technical chops for sure (though boy, I’d love to hear a dynamic or tempo change). But in the meantime, no one’s going to be able to get that picture out of their head of the guys schmoozing it up with senior citizens in Branson, Missouri. It makes them feel like a relic before a note comes out of their mouth – and not a cool relic like last season’s Jerry Lawson. The judges said they wanted more artistry and emotion from these guys. I think what they meant is this – no one likes a lounge lizard.

Kinfolk 9 – “Secrets” by OneRepublic

Moi (I think that’s how it’s spelled?) is the first clear “front-man” this competition has given us. A great front-man gets you a long way on this show. Three of the four finalists last year got to the finals on the strength of their lead soloist and the group’s ability to support the emotion coming from that singer. This is where Kinfolk seems to lack. More
so even then the Fannins, this group seems ill-fitted for this competition, because without Moi, they would so easily fade into the pack. They have “the story” that’s supposed to make me feel for them, and it does, but they don’t seem to have the musical character that other groups here do. Which means they rest on the charisma of Moi. Can he alone hold them up?

Vocal Point – “Jump Jive and Wail” by The Brian Setzer Orchestra

Vocal Point gave a very strong performance, and had the best little snippets of songs in their clip (“Footloose” and “It Had Better Be Tonight,” sounding crisp and delightful). I’m not sure if they’re better than the Yellowjackets, or even Season 1’s Beezelbubs, but I am certain that I like these guys better than last season’s goofy guys, “On the Rocks.” All the same, while al-guy college a capella set fares really well on this show, they never seem to be able to innovate enough to actually take it all, though they keep coming close on charisma alone. I don’t see this group being any different. I have no real qualms with Vocal Point, but I have no real attachment to them yet either. All the same, their strong performance means that Kinfolk 9 and The Cat’s Pajamas are on the bubble. Kinfolk is technically weaker, but Cat’s Pajamas, despite being flawless, seem like robots, and this
show does not like robots.

And the doo-wop robots do indeed head home. It may seem strange because, well, Kinfolk seems to need so much work, and Cat’s Pajamas is already there, but… they’re already there. Where else can they go? I’ll never know unless I go to Branson, I guess…

In Conclusion

The second half was much weaker than the first on this episode, which is strange as far as pacing goes, but, in all fairness, the Fannins would have been eliminated in either bracket. I am extremely excited that there are still eight groups left to discover. It doesn’t appear, thankfully, that the producer’s brought along a bunch of dead weight to get the show up to sixteen groups, which shows that there is a lot of relatively untapped a capella potential out there, and that this show has long legs.

My rankings of the surviving groups from Week 1:

1) Afroblue: They have the goods, and are my early favorites to take it all. (Barring something really awesome from the back eight, which, I mean, I hope…)

2) Delilah: A huge surprise! They gave the night’s best performance by a long shot, practically scorching my eyebrows off.

3) The Yellowjackets: I’m giving them the edge over Vocal Point for now. The question is: can either group overcome the goofy guy group curse? They make it far, but they never win…

4) Vocal Point: These guys have the goods, but I think The Yellowjackets outlast them by a week or two.

5) Urban Method: I know they can rap. Other groups have rapped. Can they sing? I know they can, but they better show us.

As good as the groups were, the judges were better. Sara appears to have been the missing puzzle piece for this show. Whereas Nicole seemed lost in the world of a capella, with everything she said sounding fake, Sara is like a capella’s perfect pixie ambassador – awkward, goofy, self-effacing, yet beautiful, talented and charming, she falls perfectly between Shawn and Ben. She judges based on the packages a bit too much, but she, like her fellow judges, offers precise and constructive criticism and feedback as well – and when she does it, she does it with a charming, doe-eyed enthusiasm mixed with a sharp intelligence. For once on a reality show, I want to hear every word every judge has to say! Nick was even suitably restrained and used almost no music puns while hosting this affair. Altogether, a perfect night of acapella, I’d have to say! ‘Til next week, then?

They're Happy The Sing-Off's Back

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Television premiere season is kicking up. Lots of possibilities. Ashton Kutcher sure looks intriguing on Two and a Half Men… (I’m being mostly facetious) Here’s five reasons you should pass up 2 Broke Girls tonight and watch the Sing-Off! (Or alternatively, watch 2 Broke Girls and catch the Sing-Off tomorrow online, where you can rewind it and watch the awesome performances over again.)

No Audition Round: There is nothing I will be more upset over… period… if, because this show is expanding to a full run, it includes audition rounds. There is nothing more trite then watching reality judges sort through the riff-raff — the bad singers, the egotists, the strange little men in costumes — so that they can find for us the truly great performers. It’s so trite that American Idol is the only show that still really sticks by the old model of trying to make me laugh at the bad people or tug my heart-strings at the sentimental sob stories that won’t even make the cut. (We’ll see soon how the X Factor handles that rubbish in a few days.) The Sing-Off is great because it opens in media res, showing us only the finest acts, already selected. It knows what it’s audience wants: good singing and great competition, not farce or melodrama. There’s a reason ESPN doesn’t air college football walk-on tryouts, and there’s a reason that The Sing-Off comes in feeling so clean and presentable: every group it decides to put in front of the camera deserves the spot-light rather than hogs it.

The Judges: Simply put this is the best judging panel out there two years running and it had been hobbling with a bum leg that entire time. Nicole Scherzinger, to put it bluntly, was annoying as all get out. My friends and I made a game out of making fun of her continued awe that these singers were in fact singing without instruments. Not that it’s not worthy of awe; it’s just that it never seemed to sink in that some point you have to cross you arms, nod your head and own it: we’ve been singing a capella for years, and we’re going to keep doing it. Nicole was like that over-eager kid who screamed at every Christmas present she got, whether it was a whistle or a pony, simply because it was wrapped. Now she has thankfully moved on to The X-Factor, where she’ll be shocked to realize that the instruments are back! In her place is Sara Barellis, who I have always found an intriguing presence. She could essentially say nothing though, and the panel would be a stark improvement. Shawn Stockman and Ben Folds have been doing most of the work for two years anyway. Barellis will be a nice enhancement to what already works. Simply pu these two are the best at what they do. They are consummate artists and they have perfected the art of the two-minute critique. They are never too easy on their charges, they have an encyclopedic knowledge of what they are talking about, they are funny and charming, and they get chills up and down their spine during a beautiful performance just like you do.

The Teamwork: Does any show have a teamwork narrative quite like this one? Maybe Sunday Night Football… While most reality competitions strive, as a part of their missions statement, to stress the wonder of the gifted individual, The Sing-Off seems hard-pressed and hard-wired to tell us that we do this together. I like that message, don’t you?

The music is great: This is my biggest concern. Will having weeks more to fill mean weeks worth of filler-music. I don’t think so. The Sing-Off uses themes to perfection: in essence, it uses them lightly and doesn’t really mention them. Song choice is broad but fresh, and what the singers can do with what they are given is astounding in so many ways.

Music, in itself, is great: I will not be watching the premiere live tonight. Why? Because I am going to go play in a community band. I can’t simply stand by and watch others work in a group to perform music and not do the same as it turns out. So I will be watching tomorrow; tonight, in whatever little way I can, I will be continuing to share in the joy of making music with other. It is a joy we need to spread, and no show on television is more radiant and persistent about how music can bring people together then this one. If for nothing else, watch it for that.

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Sometimes, we discover things in the most roundabout ways. By that I mean that we never seem to take the straightest line to the things we like most, because there’s something about taking the bumpy road, the avenue that takes a hard curve, the street with the weird diversions on it that makes the destination all the more special and ready for the telling. It makes it more special in our head, because it was an adventure getting there.

The reason I’m discovering Eliza Doolittle is Jim Carrey.

Eliza Doolittle is a British songbird. Her album, Eliza Doolittle, is an incredibly fun little pop confection. Her YouTube acoustic covers of others’ songs, where she sings with just a stand-up bass and guitar backing her up are undoubtably awesome.

Jim Carrey is… umm… well you know who Jim Carrey is. Not British. You don’t think of him as a singer, but apparently he has a band, so there’s that…

These two things don’t seem to lead to each other, but they did… and I think that’s the only reason I’m listening to Eliza Doolittle on repeat right now.

To be clear I must have heard Eliza Doolittle on my Pandora account plenty of times before. There’s no way I haven’t. I admit openly that I have a “Regina Spektor” station, and I am positive that she has popped up on there being cheerful and creative. How could she not? But, in the echo chamber of Dave Matthews, Coldplay, and female singer-songwriters with twee tendencies, nothing registered. I can’t actually remember actually ever thinking, “Ahh, hello Eliza, I’ve discovered you! Why is your name the same as that character in My Fair Lady?”

I think this says just as much about my listening tendencies as it does about anything else. I am a horrible music consumer. I have this horrible ability to tune it out for long periods of time, particularly when my intent is to listen to music! Like I’ll sit down to listen to an album, listen to the first song, start thinking about going to the bank or getting a bite to eat, and realize, thirty minutes later, when the album has finished, that the soundtrack to my thought process has kindly been provided by whatever poor artist I was supposed to be listening to but totally forgot about because my mind got caught on sandwiches.

Pandora only makes this process worst. To be fair, it makes the song’s that do stand out on Pandora that much more special, because if one song catches my attention on a radio station that has been catered to my tastes by a mathematical formula, then it must truly have something in it that throws me for a curveball. Pandora can lull you into a state of complacency, which is why I still prefer good old-fashioned radio stations controlled by another human — they keep me on my toes, and I tend to actually listen for so much longer.

Either way, if Eliza ever appeared on my Pandora, she was a victim of the hypnotic trance I enter when I listen to Regina Spektor radio. I was probably thinking about sandwiches or something…

Then came Jim Carrey…

Entertainment Weekly told me Jim Carrey had covered “Creep” by Radiohead with his band. As context they also provided a bunch of other artist’s covers of the song. It’s a very well-covered song. There was Weezer with an army of guitarists and singers and other assorted instrumentalists. There was the lead-singer of The Pretenders, that band that sang “I’ll Stand By You.” Conan O’Brian singing the song as a London chimney sweep, inexplicably enough. I listened to them all for as long as I was captivated, but I found them all to be just… meh. Especially Jim Carrey, who has some musical chops, and an incredible affinity to be a total ham at all times. I just didn’t care for any of it.

And then there was Eliza Doolittle, standing outside with a stand-up base, an acoustic guitar and a drum box. You can hear the sirens and birds in the background. You can see her impossibly sparkly leggings and gold shoes. And her voice. Her voice makes an impression. And suddenly a young lady whose voice I had heard multiple times on my own personal music station but had not paid an ounce of attention to had forced her way into my conscience only after Jim Carrey, Radiohead, Conan O’Brian and YouTube had made their own peculiar contributions and told me that I would not find what I was seeking here.

But I did. Say whatever you will about my musical tastes (for instance, I’ll admit I have an over-affinity for female-singer songwriters, acoustic covers, and Radiohead songs that are not from any of their good albums and are called “Creep”), but this version just captured me, took me away, knocked me off my feet… all those phrases. I think it’s because I wasn’t lulled into a music trance and I wasn’t expecting it and it punched me in the gut when I wasn’t ready, but it was just as effective listening to it now, as I write about it.

Well now she was in my head. I checked out her other covers, of which her best is obviously Cee Lo, by a long shot. I Spotified her album. I checked her out on Wikipedia. (Turns out the Eliza Doolittle thing is intentional, which is a nice cheeky reference that I like.)

I just like her, you know? She’s cool, and she’s got a musical sensibility that matches up nicely with mine, and she’s got a recording (and modeling!) contract which means I can expect more material from her soon. Which makes me happy. But she’s not a whole different from a lot of the other artist’s I make a point of listening to. She might have just become a part of my musical tapestry, not much talked about, if not for Jim Carrey, king of the hams. It’s thanks to him that she became special. He made it so she caught me off gaurd. He made it so she made my first encounter with her music special. He made it a story. Everyone likes a story.

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What Is It? – A new tribute album featuring such hip-and-happening acts as OK Go, Weezer, Hayley Williams of Paramore, My Morning Jacket, Andrew Bird and The Fray scratching their nostalgia itch by paying their respects to the Great Muppet Songbook.

In the world of pop culture, no group of vaudvillian misfits deserves a rousing comeback more than the once-mighty Muppets. Badly mishandled in the twenty years since creator and all-around genius Jim Henson’s death, Kermit and the gang have sunk into a sort of sad popularity limbo — one where you can still technically call them beloved, but only with the realization that they are beloved only as a still-breathing relic of a time past. Kermit lives on at Disney, on YouTube and in the occasional television special or errant performance, but in reality, it seems his effervescent, boundless, inspiring spirit died along with his kindly bearded creator.

The Muppets were big. They touched kids and adults alike, they hob-nobbed with the biggest stars of the ’70s and ’80s, they were huge crossover successes. They could essentially do no wrong. Even in a mediocre movie like The Muppets Take Manhattan (which I pretty much panned on this blog two months ago), the Muppets shine, filling up the screen with good-humor and an irrepressible nobility. The humans on the screen, well, they can’t keep up.

Today it is the Muppets who seem out-of-pace with the times. Their schtick — the sad-sack, can’t-connect-with-an-audience, heckled, incompetent losers act — well it’s hardly an act anymore. The Muppets handlers still seem to be able to come up with genius ways to use the characters (Exhibit A), but none of it, particularly the bad stuff (Exhibit Z…) is transferring intoanthing other than “Hey, it’s them again!” recognition from older audiences, and “Huh, who?” indifference from the younger crowd.

Me, I grew up during the horrible Muppets drought of the late-’90s. What Muppets movie did I get to see in theaters? Muppets in Space! Yeah, thanks for that. I don’t know where my propensity for the Muppets comes from. I can’t have seen that much of them to be honest. No Muppet Show, no Muppet Babies, some of the movies, the ride at Walt Disney World a bunch of times… And yet… I’ve latched onto Kermit, Gonzo and Fozzie like beloved pals, for no apperent reason other than, well, I love them. I love their can-do spirit and I love their can’t-actually-do mishaps and I really love the songs they sing — good old -fashioned Tin Pan Alley can-do melodies and heart-breaking “I want more!” ballads and funky Electric Mayhem jams.

In high school, I tried to arrange the Muppet Show theme song for my marching band to play in the stands. I spent months on it. It was the first thing I ever tried when I excersized my muscle on Finale, oh it must been Finale Notepad 2005. I thought it was great. Apperently it wasn’t, but, like Fozzie, a little negative feedback never stops me! That being said, the songs on this album are much better then my sad attempt to arrange a Muppets classic for clarinets and piccolos. As a matter of fact, this enitre album is great. No one does a bad Kermit imitation, but the musicians on this album do channel the sort of innocent, loose, conversational attitude of the Muppet Songbook. The joyful novelty tunes are jaunty and limber; the heart-breaking ballads are all suitably somber and tear-jerking. There’s not an unlistenable clunker in the bunch — which is partially attributable to the undeniable strength of the durable material, and is also partially attributable to the clear affection of the artist’s doing performing covers. Ultimately, the album is a great listen all the way through, and it gives one hope that a new generation of artists is ready to take on the Muppets in a fresh way — not the way Jim Henson already did, but in a way an innovator and great comedian and entertainer like Henson would have approved of. Considering this album is essentially publicity for an upcoming brand-spanking new, “We’re getting the gang back together,” Muppet movie, I guess it can be said that someone is doing their job over at the revitalized Muppet Studios. Jason Segal and Brett Mckenzie, all eyes are on you now.